


Decoy

by WorryinglyInnocent



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Fluffapalooza, Humour, Lady!Belle, Rumbelle - Freeform, Spinner!Rum, wedding escape
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-14
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-24 11:52:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9724118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WorryinglyInnocent/pseuds/WorryinglyInnocent
Summary: When Lady Belle’s father betrothes her to Sir Gaston, it seems that her plan to marry the spinner she truly loves will come to nothing. Her friends, however, have other ideas, and are determined to ensure Belle and Rumpel receive their happy ending in the most ingenious of ways… Lady!Belle x Spinner!Rum, with a side order of Scarlet Queen.





	

 

The Marchlands were currently experiencing what the scholars would call ‘the perfect day’. The sun was shining, with just enough of a sweet May breeze to make the temperature pleasant, rather than stifling. The birds were singing in the trees, there were no signs of any ogres anywhere near the horizon, and the scent of honey-blossom hung thick in the air. In the castle stables, the horses were languidly munching their feed, flicking away the flies with their long tails, and in the cool, dark hayloft above, a young couple were having a bit of a fumble.

Everything would have been pretty much idyllic, were it not for the very loud and very shrill and very heartfelt scream of frustration that echoed through the stables.

The young woman in the hayloft popped her head up out of the straw on hearing the scream, and looked around, hastily relacing the front of her dress. Her paramour followed her up a few seconds later, and they looked at each other with a mixture of worry and amusement.

“That sounded like Belle,” they said, in almost perfect unison.

A few moments later and they were both down the ladder from the hayloft and venturing further into the stable to find the source of the scream.

It was indeed, Lady Belle, who was standing in front of a large grey horse, clenching and unclenching her fists and breathing heavily, a somewhat murderous expression on her face.

“Belle?” the young man ventured. “Everything all right?”

Belle’s shoulders sagged from their angry hunch, and she let out a long breath, letting her hands fall limply to her sides.

“Sorry, Will, I didn’t mean to disturb you two.” Belle turned away politely as the young woman surreptitiously picked bits of straw out of her hair. “I’ll just take Philippe and go out for a ride to clear my head.”

“Are you sure?” Will asked. He had known Lady Belle long enough to know that for all she was impulsive and easily frustrated with the injustices of the world, it generally took a lot to get her to the screaming stage. “You know you can tell us anything.”

It was a strange little motley crew that they had formed. The lady, the groom, and the lady’s maid. They’d all grown up together, grown close in spite of the differences between their ranks, and even as they had grown into the roles that society had imposed upon them, they had remained at heart the three mischievous children who had always played together in the stables. Naturally, that was before Belle’s mother had died, as she was the one to recognise her daughter’s need for companionship her own age, and for freedom to be a child, rather than a young lady. Lord Maurice didn’t take such a sensible view of proceedings and after Lady Colette’s death, Belle’s time with her friends had decreased dramatically. But as long as she had Anastasia as her maid, and as long as Anastasia could sneak her out of the castle, then the three of them continued to be as thick as thieves. When Anastasia and Will had shown signs of being more than friends, Belle was all too happy to encourage their courtship in any way she could, including contriving the flimsiest of excuses to get the two of them alone together. Naturally, Belle was rather put out to discover that she had just interrupted one of those very occasions, but neither Will nor Anastasia seemed to mind. Ana came over and put an arm around her dejected friend.

“What’s the matter?” she asked. “Is it Sir Gaston again?”

Belle nodded.

“Your father’s still nagging at you for an answer?” Will suggested, taking a moment whilst the two ladies were hugging to check the front of his trousers for decency.

“It’s worse than that.” Belle could hear the wobble in her voice and she tried to swallow it down and stay strong in front of her oldest friends. “He’s taken it upon himself to accept on my behalf. The wedding is in two weeks.”

“Can he even do that?” Ana asked. “Surely he can’t just make you marry someone without your consent?”

“Ana, he’s lord of the manor,” Will said, his voice despondent. “He can do just about anything he likes. And since Belle’s nominately part of his estate, well, it doesn’t really matter what she thinks. His decision goes.”

Ana grimaced. “Sometimes, just sometimes, I’m glad I don’t have any family.” She turned back to Belle. “So… Sir Gaston.”

“I’m sure he’s not _that_ bad,” Will said, trying to put a positive spin on the situation. “Maybe once you’ve got to know him, he’ll grow on you a bit.”

Belle shuddered. “I don’t want him doing anything on me, thank you very much. Besides, I don’t think that you can really get to know a man who possesses neither an ounce of common sense nor any intelligent conversation. At all. The only things he knows how to talk about are himself and his hunting triumphs. If I have to spend the rest of my life listening to lists of dead animals and deeds of impossible - and I mean physically impossible - daring, then I’ll throw myself in the lake.”

“Now, let’s not be drastic here,” Ana said hastily. “There’s got to be something that we can do.”

For all the three of them might have got into childish scrapes when they were younger, there was definitely something to be said for their combined intelligence, resourcefulness and cunning. As the other servants around the castle had quickly found out, individually they were a handful, and together they were lethal.

Belle gave a long sigh. “I don’t know what there is. I can hardly go to my father and say that I won’t marry Gaston because I’d rather marry a spinner from the village. Moreover one with a son and a reputation as a coward.”

Ana squeezed Belle’s shoulder. “I think you need to go and see him,” she said. “Rumpel, I mean, not your father.”

“What can I say to him?” Belle exclaimed. “Sorry, I love you so much but this can’t go on, because my father’s practically sold me to Sir Gaston and I’ll be off to Avonlea to bear him six children?”

“Just… tell him what’s happened,” Ana soothed. “He’ll understand that you’re not happy about it and don’t want to go through with it. We’ll cover for you if anyone comes looking.”

Belle gave a melancholy nod, and moved away to saddle Philippe.

“In the meantime, we’ll think about what we can do.” It would be untrue to say that they had never yet failed to get each other out of the various scrapes they’d found themselves in over the years, but they had never yet failed to try.

After watching Belle ride off furiously towards the village, Ana and Will returned to the hayloft, but neither of them held any desire to continue what the afternoon had first promised. The threat of Sir Gaston, and of Belle being made to marry in general, had been hanging over them for a while, but it was not one that any of them liked to think about, and so they had spent more time mulling over the possibility of Ana marrying Will and thinking about a happy future in which that had happened. Now, the thing they had avoided thinking about was upon them, and more suddenly than they had expected. They had so little time in which to plan things, and so much to plan.

On the face of it, it seemed to be impossible, but if there was one thing that had always characterised the trio, it was determination.

X

Philippe’s hooves thundered against the ground as Belle galloped towards the village, knees digging into his flanks and spurring him on. Tears misted her vision, but Philippe had raced along these roads often enough that he didn’t need her to direct him. It was on one of her frantic rides away from the castle that she had first met Rumpelstiltskin. Philippe was not as used to the roads and trails, and Belle had turned him sharply to avoid splashing into the river. Philippe had reared, and it was all Belle could do to hold on. A man had been there, washing sheep fleeces in the river, and he had helped her to calm Philippe down. He had seen how distraught Belle was, and although she had long since forgotten the exact cause of her distress on that particular occasion, she would never forget the kindness with which he had treated her, leading her back to his home and giving her sweet tea and sympathy.

That man was Rumpelstiltskin, the village spinner, and over time, as Belle had escaped from the castle more and more and come down to the river to think, she had got to know him. Over the last few months, this friendship had turned into something more, with Will and Anastasia covering for her ever more frequently as she slipped out of the castle’s confines under cover of darkness to make her way down to the river to meet Rumpel; to take tea with him in his small cottage and share soft, slightly nervous kisses once Rumpel’s son had gone to bed.

Slowing Philippe to a walk as she neared the village, Belle wiped her eyes and made sure that her hood was pulled up to hide her face. Bae was outside the cottage, and despite her meagre precautions at concealment, his face lit up in recognition immediately and he rushed inside to alert his father. By the time Belle had tethered Philippe to the fence a few yards from the cottage, Rumpel was standing in the doorway, waiting for her. There was such a hopeful smile on his face, and it pained Belle to know that all too soon, that smile would vanish as she told him her terrible news.

As soon as she saw her face, the expression dropped.

“Belle?” He could tell that she’d been crying. “Belle, come inside, whatever is the matter?”

Belle didn’t even get to a chair before the entire sorry story came gushing out, her words falling over themselves in her haste to get them out before she finally collapsed into a fresh round of shuddering sobs, burying her face in Rumpel’s chest as he held her close, stroking her hair and murmuring soothing nothings to her. He was trying to keep her spirits up, she knew that, but at the same time, she knew that it was a lost cause. He had never been a good liar, Rumpel, and she knew that when he said that it was all going to be all right, there was a distinct lack of conviction in his words.

“What are we going to do, Rumpel?” she asked once she was finally sitting down, Bae making tea and looking on, worried.

“We’ll think of something,” Rumpel said desperately, but there wasn’t much hope in his voice. “You’re the cleverest person I know, Belle, I’m sure you and Ana and Will together can think up something.”

Belle could only hope that he was right, and take what comfort she could from the warmth of his arms around her.

X

It was dusk by the time Belle made it back to the stables, and she knew that she was going to have to hurry if she was going to make it back into the castle and change in time for dinner with her father and her fiancé. She shuddered at the thought, hastily unsaddling Philippe and hoping that at some point in the next two weeks someone would think up a solution to this terrible situation. Although Rumpel had given her his reassurances that no matter what, she was always welcome at his door, he did seem to be embracing the inevitable, and most of their talk during the afternoon had held the veiled feeling of making the most of the limited time that they had left together.

Belle squawked with alarm as a strong hand around her arm pulled her out of her melancholy train of thought and into the tack room at the side of the stables.

“Shh!” The voice, and indeed the hand, belonged to Anastasia, and in the dim light of the lamp in the tack room, Belle could see that Will was also there. She could also see something that made the tiniest flicker of hope spark in her chest from where she had thought it extinguished forever. Both of her friends were grinning from ear to ear.

“We’ve been thinking,” Anastasia began, “and we think we’ve got a plan.”

Belle felt a smile begin to break over her own face.

“What is it?”

“It is a bit far-fetched,” Will warned. “And it does rely on Rumpelstiltskin’s co-operation.”

“I’m sure Rumpel would be persuaded to help,” Belle replied, “as long as it wouldn’t put Bae in danger.” For all her spinner was decried as the village coward, she knew that he would do anything for the ones he loved.

“Not at all,” Will said. “We’re just going to need his particular expertise.”

Belle raised an eyebrow. Rumpel was a spinner and he had been a weaver; he knew sheep and textiles but there wasn’t much more he was especially well-versed in. “Well, any plan is a good plan, no matter how farfetched.”

The church bells chimed out the hour, and Anastasia sighed.

“We’d better get back to the castle, but I’ll tell you on the way,” she said. “We might have to get slightly creative with your wedding dress, but that’s where Rumpel comes in.”

As Anastasia outlined their plan, Belle began to see what they meant about it being rather out of the ordinary.

“So you can slip out of the castle unnoticed, and we’ll meet you at Rumpelstiltskin’s cottage once we manage to escape from the crisis.”

Belle shook her head, even though inside she was rejoicing at the thought of this harebrained scheme going ahead.

“Ana, I can’t ask you to risk yourself like that. You know that if it all goes ahead, it would be legally binding.”

“I know.” Ana grinned. “That’s why I won’t be putting myself in the line of fire. Besides, I’d need to be out and about lending credibility to the entire situation. Don’t you worry about that.”

“Even so, Papa will turn you out of the castle when he realises what’s happened.”

“Yes.” Ana’s face was earnest in the flickering firelight of Belle’s bedchamber. “Yes, we already knew that. But we know, we’ve always known, that we’re destined for other things, me and Will. We’re adventurers at heart, all of us, and this is our chance. And after all, as long as we’ve got each other, I know that everything will be all right.”

Belle smiled and pulled her friend into a hug.

“Thank you,” she breathed. “Thank you so much. I’ll make sure that you get the best start in your new life.”

The two women stayed in their embrace for a long moment, until the bell for dinner sounded.

“Go on,” Ana said, releasing Belle and giving her a little push towards the door. “You go on and play nice with Gaston. We’ve got a lot to organise.”

X

The gown was beautiful, and Belle was a little bit rueful that she would not actually wear it to get married in. The best seamstresses in the realm had worked around the clock to produce such a splendid ensemble in the short time available to them, and Belle had felt heartily sorry that their work had then been tampered with and pulled apart by Rumpel’s needles and threads and shears. Still, the end result was something entirely spectacular, and hopefully it would serve their purpose well.

“It’s a shame that we’re sabotaging today,” Ana said as she finished brushing out Belle’s curls and placed the heavy veil down on her head, clipping it in place. “Because you do look truly beautiful.”

“Thank you, Ana.”

She glanced at herself in the glass, and tried to smile, but her expression was pensive instead. It was the last moment, only a few short minutes before the ceremony in the castle’s main hall was due to begin. The guests had been arriving all morning, and Belle had already got a glimpse of Sir Gaston in his full finery. It didn’t add anything, it just made his ridiculously large frame look even more out of proportion.

“Can’t we get it over and done with now?” she asked, turning to Ana, who shook her head with a smile.

“No, no, your father has to see you in your gown first. We can’t give him any reason to suspect that something’s not as it seems.”

Almost on cue, there was a knock at the window, and Anastasia rushed over to open it. Will fell into the room, having clambered up the climbing ivy up the wall outside.

“You know, you could just have come in the normal way,” Anastasia observed as she pulled him off the floor.

“I was trying to be surreptitious!” Will exclaimed, most put out at the slight against his efforts at secrecy.

“Yes, because a young man climbing the castle walls and throwing himself into the lady of the castle’s bedchamber isn’t at all suspicious,” Ana said dryly, brushing him down. “Did you bring the things?”

“Of course.” Will handed her the package of clothing he was carrying. “We’re all set.”

There was a knock on the door and Belle recognised her father’s voice.

“Bluebell? Are you decent?”

Anastasia bundled Will under the bed for concealment and went over to open the door. Maurice was wearing his best clothes ready for the ceremony, and his smile grew even wider when he saw Belle in her wedding dress.

“Ah, Belle, you look as lovely as your mother did on our wedding day.” He came over and wrapped his arms around his daughter, drawing her in close against his chest. Belle breathed in the dusty smell of his best jacket and closed her eyes. For all they did not agree and for all she might never forgive him for the engagement to Gaston, her father was her only family and after today, she might never see him again. It was still hard to come to terms with, although her decision had already been made. “Forgive an old man his sentimentality. This is the last time we’ll have together like this, and then you’ll be lady of a different castle.” As he pulled back, his brow furrowed, and he turned Belle’s face up towards him with two fingers under her chin. “What’s the matter, Belle? You should be smiling today. Can you give your Papa a smile?”

Belle managed a weak smile, knowing that she probably wouldn’t smile properly again until they were completely out of the woods, which might not be for a while.

“I’m just nervous, I guess,” she said. “You should get back to the guests; they’ll need directing.”

Maurice sighed. “Yes, you’re right. If only Colette was here. She’d know what to do.”

“I’m sure you’ll manage, Papa.” Belle kissed his cheek as he moved away towards the door again. “I love you,” she added, feeling that it really needed to be said before the grand scheme was enacted. “I’ll always love you, Papa.”

Maurice smiled indulgently. “I love you too, Bluebell.”

As soon as he was out of the room and his heavy footfalls had faded away along the corridor, Belle let out a long sigh of relief that she didn’t even realise she’d been holding, and Ana came over, rubbing her arm gently as Will extricated himself from under the bed.

“He’ll understand, when it all comes out,” Ana said. “I’m sure he will, in the end.”

Belle nodded. “I know. That doesn’t make it any easier, but at the same time, this is what I want.”

“Yes. This is it. Come on, we don’t have much time.”

Will politely turned his back as Ana got started on unlacing Belle out of her gown again, and soon she was dressed in the soft trousers and jerkin of a stablehand, her hair tucked up under a cap.

“Go!” Ana said, fiddling with the dress and gesturing frantically towards the door. “You need to get a head start!”

Belle peeped out of the door and checked that the coast was clear before slipping out and turning back to her friends.

“Thank you both, so much.”

Will winked at her.

“You’d do the same for us.”

And with that, she was gone, speeding unnoticed through the castle as she weaved through the crowds of guests and out into the fresh spring air.

A few minutes later found Philippe’s hooves pounding the path that they had taken so many times before, with no-one any the wiser.

X

If anyone thought that Lady Belle’s maid was wearing a rather too-smug smile when she entered the great hall, holding up her mistress’s long train, then they put it down to the fact that it was a joyous day that she had an important role in, and she was happy to be a part of such a wonderful celebration. If anyone looking at the bride thought that perhaps Lady Belle was looking a little different to usual, then again, they put it down to the effects of the day and the cut of the gown - such a beautiful gown, truly breathtaking to behold. If anyone thought that Lady Belle’s voice sounded a little high and squeaky as she repeated her vows, they put it down to the choked tears of happiness that every bride was supposed to have on her wedding day.

So no-one really, truly noticed anything out of the ordinary, and if they did, then they put it to the back of their minds.

It was only once the ceremony was complete and Sir Gaston was pushing back Lady Belle’s veil that anyone really realised that they should have listened to their gut feeling that something wasn’t quite right about the entire thing.

For a start, the bride was not Lady Belle.

More importantly, the bride was in fact a man wearing a wig and grinning wickedly at Gaston, who looked as if he was about to faint.

“Can’t I get a kiss, husband?” the young man asked without a hint of irony, puckering his lips.

Sir Gaston’s eyes rolled back in his head and he fell backwards, landing on the stone floor of the great hall with a loud thud.

It took a good half a minute for the guests to realise what had happened and for the uproar to begin, and in the midst of all the shouting and demanding of explanations, Lady Belle’s maid grabbed the imposter bride’s hand and pulled him away, wig and all.

X

Belle was looking out of Rumpelstiltskin’s cottage window nervously, and had been doing ever since she had arrived there. She had smuggled some of her things out of the castle over the course of the past two weeks, just the things that she would truly miss. Some of her books, and the small portrait of her mother. Rumpel had passed the fine silks from some of her gowns to a trader he knew at the market in the next town over and had received a good price for them, keeping a little money aside for their life together and using the rest to make their home ready for her. She took a step back from the window and looked around the small cottage. Home. This was her home now, and Belle couldn’t be happier with the situation. Well, she’d be happier knowing that Ana and Will had suffered no repercussions from their plan.

She had not taken any of her father’s money, preferring to find her own capital since she was already deceiving him. This was the path she had chosen and she was going to make her own way down it. She had Rumpel and Bae, after all, and they were all that she needed. Of course it wasn’t going to be plain sailing, but life never was, and at least in this life, she had love to help her through. Beautiful, pure, true love, borne from friendship, not a relationship forged in the name of politics and alliances.

The sound of hooves alerted her to the window again, and Bae was already going to open the door. Ana and Will stumbled in, giggling all over.

Will, Belle noticed, was still wearing the wedding dress that Rumpel had so deftly altered to be able to expand and fit Will’s broader frame.

“Well, I think that went about as well as can be expected,” he said. He’d lost the wig at some point during their journey, and set about pulling out the padding that had been stuffed down the bodice. Wryly, Belle thought it something of a blessing that she was not particularly well-endowed in the décolletage.

“Tea?” Rumpelstiltskin asked, setting the pot over the fire.

“That sounds lovely, but we’d probably better be getting on our way soon,” Ana said. “They’ll come to their senses and start looking for us soon. Provided they’ve picked Gaston up off the floor…”

Will and Ana described the scene in hilarious detail as they drank their tea and Will continued to divest himself of the wedding dress and return to his usual attire; Belle having changed into plain, peasant clothing that Rumpel had been making for her. The tale almost made Belle sad that she hadn’t been there to see the entire spectacle.

At length, though, it was time to leave before they were discovered, and Belle pressed a bag of coins, proceeds from the sale of her smuggled out silks, into Ana’s hands.

“Be safe, and send word when you can,” she said, pulling her oldest friends into a fierce hug.

“Of course.” Will turned to Rumpelstiltskin. “Keep her safe,” he said, his tone somewhat warning.

“I intend to do nothing else,” Rumpel said. “Good luck, Mr Scarlet, Miss Tremaine.”

It was a bittersweet moment of goodbye as Belle watched her friends ride off into the setting sun together, but then she felt Rumpel’s arm come around her back and she turned to him, smiling and leaning in to capture the kiss he readily provided. (Bae excused himself to the other side of the room at that point.)

It was all coming together, with happiness snatched from the jaws of despair. Despite everything, Belle knew that she had made the right choice. It was not running away, she reasoned, welcoming Rumpel’s lips against hers once more. It was running towards something, running towards a life of love and contentment.

Running towards a life that was hers to share with whosoever she chose.

She smiled at Rumpel, and he smiled back.

She’d chosen well.

 


End file.
